Cold Flame
by ezrabriidger
Summary: The Vatican has captured a very powerful demon, one that is reportedly able to wield the blue flames. Where did he come from, and what does he want?


**In my defense, I haven't actually watched ANE for a _very_ long time. I was reading DayLightDove's fics and suddenly decided that I should write something for this fandom. This story is probably ridiculously OOC, so I apologize in advance.**

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The silence was unnerving. Though the corridor was dark, Yukio knew that every cell he passes was occupied by some sort of demon. The captive monsters were not known for sitting quietly. They growled and lunged at passing exorcists every chance they got, despite realizing that their efforts were futile. They were especially vicious in their attacks when he walked by, recognizing him as one of the key players in their capture. He had become accustomed to his arrival triggering a cacophony that only quieted when he left. His visits usually heralded chaos.

Now his echoing footsteps were the only thing that could be heard, made even louder by the hushed atmosphere of the space. Every step only added to the feeling that something was wrong, sending an unwanted and worrying tingling sensation down his spine. He wasn't afraid, of course. He was a trained exorcist, a warrior more than capable of dealing with any of the creatures that were imprisoned behind so many charms and spells. If he had to choose a word for what he was feeling, it would have had to have been unease.

He could feel their eyes on him, effortlessly tracking him through the dark as he made his way further into the facility. It was akin to the sensation of knowing that someone was staring at him, but multiplied by every creature he passed. One would have been easy to shake off and ignore, but all of them was much more difficult. That paired with the silence was enough to raise the hairs on the back of his neck, even as he maintained a neutral expression and a steady breathing rate. There was no need to let them know that he was uncomfortable.

Despite his efforts to appear calm, there was still some tension in his shoulders that instantly relaxed when he caught sight of a lantern glowing in the distance. His pace may have also quickened ever so slightly, more to reach his destination faster than to get away from the strange behavior of the demons. He didn't want to keep his companion waiting.

Shiro Fujimoto was a comforting sight. Even amidst the peculiarity of the situation, he still had the same grin he always wore when he greeted Yukio each day. "Yukio!" He called happily, waving his lantern as the boy came closer. "You got here fast."

"I came as soon as I heard," Yukio replied, coming to a stop before the priest. He had rushed over quickly after being confronted by two panicking exorcists who had been in charge of guarding the demons. He hadn't heard the full story, but they had said that Father Fujimoto had asked for him specifically to deal with a problem. On his way, he had also seen another guard being carried away on a stretcher. The man had been mostly blocked from his view, but the burns and scratches he had glimpsed were enough to cause alarm. Now that he had arrived, he had hoped to hear more details. "What's going on? What happened to that guard? Why did you ask for me specifically?"

Turning and beckoning Yukio to follow him, Shiro smiled fondly at the boy's curiosity and concern before allowing a serious expression to overtake his features. "It's a bit complicated," he stated mildly, but quickly continued when he saw Yukio's indignant look. "Don't worry. I wouldn't have called you here if I was planning on avoiding your questions. Just give me a minute to explain."

When he was sure that he wasn't going to be interrupted, he began again. "I know that you're involved with most of the demon captures, and you were immediately informed of any other demons that were brought in without your help. However, there's something... odd about the newest demon here."

Yukio looked up at Father Fujimoto in surprise. There was a new demon here? Why hadn't he been told? Who had captured it? What was so odd about it? He had so many questions that he wanted to ask, but he held them in and listened quietly. He knew that if he didn't interrupt, he would get the answers soon enough.

"It had been a fairly uneventful day, according to the guards, when it suddenly became completely silent. When the guards came to check and see what had happened, they discovered a demon."

At this point, Yukio could no longer contain himself. "A demon? Here? How did it get in?"

"We're not sure. All we know is that it suddenly appeared."

That was concerning. If a demon had managed to get passed the wards that were set up around the building, it had to be extremely strong. Not only that, but it could most likely get passed the wards on the individual cells. It had the potential to free hundreds of demons from captivity.

However, there were other cells that had been specially built to contain strong demons, ones that would easily rip through the protection provided by the simple seals on the normal cells. As long as the demon had been captured, there was no cause for alarm.

"So they captured it," Yukio stated more than asked. If the other demons were still acting like this, it was safe to assume that the mystery demon had been locked away as well. "What's the problem?"

"When the guards tried to confront it, it attacked them with blue flames."

That stopped Yukio in his tracks. Blue flames. There was only one known demon who wielded such flames, and that was Satan himself. He had heard the stories of the night when the demon lord had tried to take a vessel. So many had died, burnt away with screams of agony as Satan had leapt from one person to another, looking for a human body strong enough to sustain his power. "But... Satan can't possibly have found a vessel."

"No," Shiro agreed solemnly, gently urging Yukio to keep moving. "I don't think he has. That night proved that it's not easy for Satan to freely move in Assiah. However, after his failed attempt to gain his own body, he may have found another way to gain a foothold in this world."

"How?"

They came to a halt outside of one of the high security cells. The darkness seemed thicker here somehow, as if it was radiating from this point to infect the rest of the corridor. For a moment, Yukio thought that they had stopped in front of the wrong cell, since he couldn't see anything there. It was only when he once again felt the sensation of being watched that he realized that he was mistaken. Shiro raised the lantern and cast the yellow glow into the gloom. "Through his son."

Even with the warm light of the lantern pressing against the perpetual darkness of the underground cell, it couldn't seem to pierce through the shadows near the rear wall. It was as if the darkness was fighting back against the illumination's attempts at suppression. And, unless Yukio was imagining the slow, almost imperceptible creeping of the shadow's edge, the darkness was winning. He watched the almost wispy tendrils of the shadows as they mockingly stopped their steady advance not one moment after he noticed their movement. Yukio glanced at Father Fujimoto and opened his mouth to ask if he had seen it as well, but quickly closed it when he noticed his serious gaze was focused on something within the mass of shadows. He turned to stare at the same spot, unable to discern what resided in the darkness.

He didn't have much time to speculate before the sound of something shifting caught his attention. He tried to peer further into the dark, attempting to get a glimpse of whatever the cell held. Yukio was so focused on the source of the noises that it was a slight shock when the demon silently stepped into the light, so fast that it was like he had appeared out of nowhere.

Despite knowing that higher level demons often took on a humanoid appearance or found themselves a human vessel, it was slightly unnerving to discover that the demon appeared to be around his age. It was even more unsettling when Yukio took in just how human he looked. The boy's ears were unnaturally pointy, but they were somewhat hidden by his dark, unkempt hair. His blue eyes, similar to Yukio's in their intensity, had a distinct red sheen to them that hinted at the raw destructive power the demon possessed. The only other obvious indicator that the boy was demonic that he could see was his tail. Most demons would hide the appendage knowing that it was their most accessible weak point, but the boy had let his remain clearly visible. It swayed slowly back and forth between the divide of light and dark that the lantern had created in his cell.

Although he had stepped into the light, the shadows still seemed to cling to his dark clothing, anchoring him firmly to the darkness behind him. The odd lighting made it somewhat difficult to tell, but his outfit appeared to be similar to a True Cross Academy uniform in its design. However, the dominating color of everything, from the jacket and tie all the way down to his shoes, was black. It created a stark contrast against his pale skin and drew even more attention to his unnerving eyes. Yukio hid an unwelcome and involuntary shudder as the eerie combination of red and blue shifted slightly and focused on him.

The boy grinned at his discomfort, revealing his sharply pointed teeth, before he snorted. "So the Paladin himself has come to see me. Aren't I special?"

Yukio was slightly unnerved by the voice of the demon. The clear, uncaring tone seemed typical of a normal teenager, and yet, like his eyes, there was something more. There was a quiet threat laced in every word he spoke, an almost imperceptible growl of warning to anyone that happened to verbally spar with him. The message was clear: I'll be civil for now, but you would be wise to watch your step, human.

Father Fujimoto, however, appeared completely unaffected by the subtle threat. His confident grin provided a sense of comfort that Yukio was grateful for in this situation. He watched as his mentor seemed to seriously contemplate the demon's rhetorical question. "Yes," he said finally with a small shrug, "I suppose you are. It's quite impressive how you managed to break in here without anyone noticing. The guards were fairly surprised, to say the least. I can't imagine how you were able to pull that off."

There was a short pause, the vaguely hinted question hanging in the silence between the demon and the exorcists. It was an open invitation, a chance for the boy to boast about his abilities and revel in his superiority over the humans. However, answering such a question was a double-edged sword. Gloating would reveal exactly how the demon had managed to get passed their defenses, which could then lead to them finding a way to keep him trapped indefinitely by strengthening their seals against him. An arrogant slip of the tongue could lead to disaster for the boy.

There was a flash of pride in those blue eyes that seemed to subdue the red for a moment. It was gone as quickly as it had come, replaced with cool indifference, but the fleeting emotion was not missed by either of the exorcists. The brief change had almost made the boy seem oddly… human. For that moment, Yukio was able to see the boy as just that: a kid. A teenager, around his age, who accomplished something and was smugly satisfied with the outcome.

And just like that, the moment was shattered. The red glint returned as the boy's grin widened, showing off more of his pointed teeth. "Glad to hear that I'm keeping the exorcists on their toes. Assiah's defense squad wouldn't be nearly as entertaining if they got too lax."

Despite his general uneasiness, Yukio felt a twinge of annoyance and anger at the demon's flippant remark. The Vatican was an ancient and distinguished organization. The exorcists that worked tirelessly under its direction risked their lives to ensure the peaceful and safe existence of the rest of humanity. How dare this young, ignorant demon simply write them off as a joke!

"Well," The boy continued, seemingly oblivious to Yukio's growing outrage, "Maybe I should have visited sooner. Those Knights I encountered were a lot weaker than I had been expecting from all the stories I've heard. They could barely stand up to a few weak attacks, and then one of them ran off out of nowhere and left his friends to face me while he got help! I don't know what you all teach about teamwork these days, but it just seems dumb to run away while your friend is being burned alive and screaming for mercy."

Yukio's stomach churned as imagination decided to try to reenact the scene. The faded echoes of the tortured screams and a violent flash of blue flames was enough for him to forcefully stop thinking about anything for ten seconds in order to calm himself down. He may not have seen the actual incident, but he had seen the results of it on the man he had passed on his way down here. This boy had mercilessly attacked and severely injured a fellow exorcist, and all he could say about it was that they had been weak and dumb to try to call for backup when they were clearly outmatched? How could he be so callous about almost killing several individuals?

Father Fujimoto had still managed to maintain his grin, although his eyes had lost their twinkle of mirth and now held a much more menacing gleam. "Yes, our defenses were clearly not up to par with your abilities. The Knights that came to me asking for help described your strength and other more… unique powers."

The lazy swing of the demon's tail was interrupted by a slight twitch of annoyance. "If you're looking for a demonstration, I'm not going to give you one. You of all people should know what the blue flames look like."

"So it's true, then," Father Fujimoto muttered under his breath. It was clear that he had been hoping that the panicking Knights had been mistaken.

The boy rolled his eyes at the Paladin's distress. "Oh please, what are you so upset about? You've already dealt with them once, haven't you? Father talks about you quite often. Well, rants about you is probably closer to the truth. The almost perfect vessel, the one who had been so close to freeing him from Gehenna." The demon grimaced with distaste. "It's almost all I ever hear about. You would think that he would be more focused on finding a proper vessel than crying about one that wasn't quite right."

Father Fujimoto tensed at the boy's words, earning him a surprised glance from Yukio and a lazy grin from the demon. "Sorry," the boy drawled. "Did I strike a nerve? I have such a hard time talking to old men like you." He smirked and sent a wink towards Yukio, his bi-colored eyes burning with triumph and knowledgeable mirth, as if they were sharing some inside joke with each other.

A firm hand grasping his arm elicited a startled yelp from Yukio before he realized it was Father Fujimoto. The Paladin glared silently at the demon for a few moments, but his almost palpable feelings of anger and worry were easily deflected by the boy's smug grin. The demon was hardly paying attention to the older man at this point, keeping his unsettling gaze locked on Yukio as he was practically dragged away. Yukio found himself unable to look away, even as the swaying lantern's glow receded from the demon's enclosure, leaving the boy surrounded by darkness.


End file.
